I'm skeptical that any FA is going to transform this franchise. Since they are at least 2 years away, I'd prefer to save to big FA money for their own good players and build the team the right way.

No FA is the savior but this approach will always keep us 2 years away. Building the team the " right way " only works if you draft the right players. I believe you build a winner anyway you can and then you maintain through the draft. Always go with the better players, as long as they don't break the bank. Ellerbee has developed into a very good LB.

There's more moeny than good players on this team. They should jump at Ellerbe.

My comment is more about economics than talent evaluation. Ellerbe only comes to Buffalo at a premium over what Baltimore would offer him. Signing Ellerbe (who may look different without Ngata in front of him) may mean you let Wood walk...or another good player down the road.

If you don't draft well, all the best FAs in the world are not going to help this team. Name the last decent team that was built on FAs....The only thing last year's FA did was sell tickets.

Ellerbe should be one of a handful of FA's the Bills target. They've got to find at least 2 LB's to START this year, at least one WR, a TE, and probably a Safety - maybe also a CB. That's 5 or 6 guys the Bills need to find to START. Now, we can probably find 3 starters in the draft. That will leave us needing to pick up 3 or so FA STARTERS. Ellerbe would give Buffalo a young, legitimate ILB to pair with Bradham, and would allow us to concentrate on QB, OLB, or WR with our 1st pick in the draft. I love the idea!

Mario Williams justified his salary with meaningless sacks against bad opponents. He had a grand total of 1 sack in division games and was by and large invisible in big games. It's pretty obvious that he did not make this defense better last year.

Ellerbe should be one of a handful of FA's the Bills target. They've got to find at least 2 LB's to START this year, at least one WR, a TE, and probably a Safety - maybe also a CB. That's 5 or 6 guys the Bills need to find to START. Now, we can probably find 3 starters in the draft. That will leave us needing to pick up 3 or so FA STARTERS. Ellerbe would give Buffalo a young, legitimate ILB to pair with Bradham, and would allow us to concentrate on QB, OLB, or WR with our 1st pick in the draft. I love the idea!

You forgot one position... the single most important position of 3-4 defense...Nose Tackle. Without a bonafide one(Dareus is not one) this defense won't be much better.

Mario Williams justified his salary with meaningless sacks against bad opponents. He had a grand total of 1 sack in division games and was by and large invisible in big games. It's pretty obvious that he did not make this defense better last year.

It was close. The loss isn't for lack of effort/performance on Mario specifically.

I'm not saying he turned the D around, or even that he earned his contract last year, but he did get better in the second half and I think he can be a great player for us.

You may be right. But we can't afford to keep building with someone else's talent. It's not economically feasible and several teams have proved that it just doesn't work. Remember the Redskins before Shanny?

My comment is more about economics than talent evaluation. Ellerbe only comes to Buffalo at a premium over what Baltimore would offer him. Signing Ellerbe (who may look different without Ngata in front of him) may mean you let Wood walk...or another good player down the road.

If you don't draft well, all the best FAs in the world are not going to help this team. Name the last decent team that was built on FAs....The only thing last year's FA did was sell tickets.

We don't draft very well. Ellerbe would be an impact player. Wood (your example), as a center is not that type of player. And with his injury history, Wood wouldn't come at a premium.

Ellerbe would instantly be one of the best players on the D at a position that we don't have a single legitimate starter for. We won't draft a player as good as Ellerbe. This is pretty simple, I think.

Mario Williams justified his salary with meaningless sacks against bad opponents. He had a grand total of 1 sack in division games and was by and large invisible in big games. It's pretty obvious that he did not make this defense better last year.

The guy was 4th in the league in sacks on 3rd down. I was hating early on as well, but he became a very good player for us post wrist scope